This Time
by Queen-of-Chaos-15zzaa1
Summary: Kain Highwind, the Legendary Dragoon, having returned to Baron, has discovered that he has a fate worse than he could have ever imagined. If only he weren't alone in it... He is about to discover that he isn't the only one with a Beast within! Timeline set post-TAY.
1. Chapter 1

**This Time**

**Chapter one **

Kain looked up at the threatening clouds above him. He knew that the sky called out for him, cried for its master. And he knew it was only a matter of time before he became it again. He sighed and went back into the shabbily half-restored building to remove his clothes. He wasn't going to lose them like last time. No, it would be too uncomfortable anyhow. The transformation hurt badly enough as it was, without his wings trying to spread and having the confines of cloth to break through.

"I wonder why she chose me, of all people?" he thought, not realizing that he voiced it. Not that there was anyone around to hear.

"Grooo, grum." Except Valediction, the blond thought with a slight wince. "Gro? Brrrammbara?"

Kain looked at the huge eye, peeping through the broken window, regarding him with curiosity. "Yes, her, you pervert." He chuckled as the huge dragon tried to comprehend the human word. "Grum?"

Kain winced as he realized that the transformation was beginning. He felt his face twisting, and his limbs beginning to shift, as the buds of feathered wings forced themselves from his broad shoulders.

"I will not explain it to you, because you are the very definition of the word, watching people taking off their clothes." He spoke, his voice dripping with something that only the dragons have bothered to name. He found Valediction's quirky habit of intently watching him as often as possible to be amusing, if quite irritating.

The dragon's befuddled expression did nothing to ease the pain the man felt. "(But you are funny, Val.)" he focused on that thought as he collapsed to the floor, his body now covered with thick, curly gold fur, his forehead bleeding from the emerging horn, which created a headache so furious, that it always surprised him that his skull was ever left intact.

Then it all stopped. The world swirled about him as he struggled to get enough oxygen into his system. He lay, panting, for several minutes, before stretching his tremendous pink wings and, wobbling, stood on his paws.

Valediction had watched every moment of the transformation, quite in awe that his master was so tolerant… what had he called him? In any case, the majestic winged wolf that now stood in the room where his master had been only moments before, shedding the strange extra skin that humans always seemed to have, was not a beast to be trifled with. He left the window, knowing that the time had come for him to go to the clearings in the deep forest. The Sky Guardian did not need him to watch where he went, and most certainly… would be… what did humans say about this anyway? He lumbered off.

Kain walked through the doorway of the broken building that had become his lair in the past six months, following the discovery of the dragon's nest. He was far from hungry, yet there was something, some insatiable hunger, that he felt must be filled.

The rain had come on, suddenly, and he saw the lightning crash nearby. He felt the desires of the beast come on, as he heard a pathetic wail, barely perceptible to most, yet even louder than the thunder to him. He smiled in the way only a wolf does. Yes. That was what he sought. And tonight, he would hunt.


	2. Chapter 2

**This Time**

**Chapter two**

_(A/N I would like to thank mythweaver1 for the review. It drove me to keep going on this! I should note that this story, apart from flashbacks, takes place the year after FFIV: TAY. Who "she" is, is explained in this chapter. Thank you!) _

**Begin flashback: **

_The man feigned sleep as he lay on the bed. The archfiend would doubtless be upset to know that he was fully aware that she and her lackeys were conferring; after all, a human shouldn't be there anyway. Still, it was intriguing to hear, even if he couldn't hear, nor understand the meaning of half of what they discussed. It seemed to be concerning him, but there was little to confirm this, if anything. _

_"He seems to be able…" _

_"What if it comes…" _

_"He will…" _

_"…Myriad era…"_

_"…end?" _

_"Begin…"_

_He shifted slightly, noticing that the three sisters jumped slightly. Their mistress did not. She knew he didn't exactly sleep "like a log". He breathed slowly and softly, keeping the appearance of sleep. He was curious, and he knew that this was the only way he could learn more. What was going to end? What would begin? A "Myriad era"…? The hushed voices resumed, quieter, much to his chagrin. _

_"…the skies…"_

_"Dragons…" _

_"What will he be like?"_

_This slightly louder bit was from Mindy. She was only a child still, and it showed in her voice as well as the peculiar question. What was he going to be like?…hmm… this merited at least some answer, right? _

_"I don't know." _

_Barbariccia. She didn't know. How… fascinating. They seemed to be quite finished with the discussion as he shifted again, still trying to retain the appearance that he was asleep. _

_"It all depends on who else I find. This is only in case of the worst, naturally." _

_He heard the three sisters leave as the Empress approached him, hopefully unaware he had been listening. He tried to still his heart. He was not precisely comforted by the last words which Barbariccia had given to her underlings. He squirmed when she placed a hand on his shoulder. _

**End flashback.**

Kain growled as he tried to scent his quarry. Why had he remembered that? It didn't seem to be so significant, but the memory worried him nonetheless. He pressed it away when he noticed the now stronger scent of scorched hair and cloth.

**Begin flashback.**

_The white mage groaned in irritation. Here was the very last person she wished to deal with. And he had been struck by lightning. How did he of all people come to be hit by seemingly ordinary lightning? "Out of a perfectly clear sky no less!" she growled to herself. Her sisters had nothing but ill to speak of the dragoon, and why should anyone but her sisters be right about him? Of course, Madge had had a different opinion of Kain, but she never thought anything bad about anyone. "(Particularly someone she couldn't remember…)" Ruby thought to herself, bitterly. Her sister had died in the moon fall. _

_She closed her eyes and focused on a spell. It was supposed to be an extraordinarily advanced spell, but it was easy for her. "Curaga" she uttered under her breath. She made a mental note to go trip down a flight of stairs later. It had worked, or at least seemed to. _

_The Captain groaned and sat up, rubbing his brow as if to dispel a headache. _

_"Captain Highwind… you're awake." Yes. The worst thing she had done. Help the man who had let her father die. But it did no one any good to not help another person, not with so many people who had died in the moon fall. _

_He nodded to her in thanks. "Miss… Bellevue, I believe?" she only responded with a disgusted huff. "How did I wind up here, if you would please tell me?" he said, ignoring her reaction. _

_"How?" she deadpanned. She couldn't believe that he had no recollection for a moment, then chided herself, managing to spit out a reply. "You were struck by lightning." She turned and left. _

_No good. She would be sure to throw herself off of some cliff or something when no one would see her. It was infuriating. _

**end flashback.**

Ruby groaned in pain, trying to believe that she was still alive after the lightning strike. Why did she not have the chance to throw herself off the cliff? Stupid sky-worshiping freaks. How dare they kidnap her, and leave her as some sacrifice to a stupid storm-god-thing! She faded out of consciousness.

**begin flashback.**

_Kain blinked after the petite white mage as she stormed out. The last thing he remembered before this was having been drilling his men. He frowned. Why didn't he recall anything else? _

_"I guess that being struck with lightning isn't a very memorable thing, if you even survive." He muttered to no one at all. "It should be, though." _

_He gasped suddenly, searing pain shooting through his entire being. He felt queasy. He rose to his feet, staggering slightly, and that was when he notices his hand. _

_A patch of gold fur had formed on the back, and his nails were becoming claws. He felt another searing pulse of pain, as if a dragon were trying to tear him apart. _

_He snuck to the nearest window, and leapt out. _

**end flashback.**

His huge violet eyes glowed as he approached the red-haired girl. She had been bound to a pole, and left here before the storm came. Why someone would do such a horrible thing was beyond him, but the beast which currently took over his body was happy as he padded over and nipped at the ropes. This was what he was looking for.

**begin flashback.**

_Ruby wandered up into the mountains on her own. She hadn't told anyone where she was going or what she was doing. Sara would probably have nodded, saying "good riddance, why didn't you get rid of him?". Why not? It wasn't as if there was so much left. It didn't matter that the world was still around. _

_Without the massive second moon, everyone felt safe., but the world hadn't recovered. Freakish monsters still wandered the scarred landscape, growing in number, in spite of the fact the sun had returned. It had only vaguely begun to revive with the rebuilding of settlements. That was all. It re-entered a state of decline within a matter of months. _

_The crystals. She had heard that the crystals weren't shining so brightly. It was only whispers amongst a few. Most people believed that the world would become even better than before, but she herself knew that was going to need more than a miracle. How ignorant of people to believe otherwise. _

_She was nearing the highest cliff there. No one would find her. She would be dead. That was that. _

_Her scream was stifled by a hand clamped over her mouth. She struggled furiously against the man who held on to her. She smelled a sickeningly sweet scent and everything went black. _

**end flashback.**


End file.
